Crooks stole approximately 48.2 billion yen ($304 million) worth of Bitcoin from the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange DMM Bitcoin.

The Japanese cryptocurrency exchange DMM Bitcoin announced that crooks stole 4,502.9 Bitcoin (BTC), approximately $304 million (48.2 billion yen), from the its wallets.

“At approximately 1:26 p.m. on Friday, May 31, 2024, we detected an unauthorized leak of Bitcoin (BTC) from our wallet. We are still investigating the details of the damage, but the following is what we know at this stage. We have already taken measures to prevent the unauthorized leak, but we have also implemented restrictions on the use of some services to ensure additional safety.

We deeply apologize for any inconvenience caused to our customers.” reads a message published by the exchange on its website. The page is currently unavailable.

The company assured that the customers’ Bitcoin (BTC) deposits will be fully guaranteed.

In response to the heist, DMM Bitcoin limited the following services:

・ Screening of new account openings
・ Processing of cryptocurrency withdrawals
・ Suspension of buying orders for spot trading (only selling orders accepted)
・ Suspension of new open positions for leveraged trading (only settlement orders accepted)

The company added that limit orders for spot trading and leveraged trading that have already been placed will not be canceled and that withdrawals of Japanese Yen may take longer than usual.

DMM Bitcoin has yet to provide details about the attack.

Cryptocurrency security firm Elliptic reported that this incident would be the eighth-largest crypto heist of all time, and the largest since the $477 million hack suffered by FTX, in November 2022. Elliptic also confirmed it has identified the wallets involved in the attack.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Bitcoin)